Sugarloaf Provincial Park, New Brunswick, Canada
As we entered New Brunswick we headed straight for our first Provincial Park loving the fact that Provincial parks in New Brunswick are free! Dominated by Sugarloaf Mountain the park contains a few short trails. We opted for a 5km hike around the base and 0.6km steep climb to the summit. The climb was a little more technical than we had anticipated but worth it for the gorgeous view at the summit. The entire hike took us just over 2 hours and was a great little afternoon jaunt.
The Gaspesie Provincial Park, Quebec, Canada
This rugged park is 802 sq.km of spectacular scenery dotted with lakes and sits over two of Quebecs most beautiful mountain ranges-Chic Choc and McGerrigle. It contains 140km of hiking trails and some of the best sections of the International Appalachian trail are here. Provincial parks in Quebec cost around $8.50 per person per day but you can buy annual passes that cover all of the province for around $40 per person. Well worth it if you are in the area for a while.
We chose a few short hikes; La Sailie (3.4km), Chute de lady St Anne (1.7km) and Le Mont Ernest La Force (4.5km) to the summit where you were rewarded by a 360 degree viewing deck. The morning started pretty wet and grizzly but the sun made its way out for the summit hike in the afternoon which really made the views ever more pleasing.
Not far from the park we found a great free camping spot at Lac Neuf. It had swings for Jasper which was obviously a bonus but led to one of his first ever tantrums as he didn’t want to get out of the swing for dinner. Toddler troubles still exist on the road.
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